Biblioteca Digital

BACKGROUND: Xylitol bioproduction from lignocellulosic residues comprises hydrolysis of the hemicellulose, detoxification of the hydrolysate, bioconversion of the xylose, and recovery of xylitol from the fermented hydrolysate. There are relatively few reports on xylitol recovery from fermented media. In the present study, ion-exchange resins were used to clarify a fermented wheat straw hemicellulosic hydrolysate, which was then vacuum-concentrated and submitted to cooling in the presence of ethanol for xylitol crystallization. RESULTS: Sequential adsorption into two anion-exchange resins (A-860S and A-500PS) promoted considerable reductions in the content of soluble by-products (up to 97.5%) and in medium coloration (99.5%). Vacuum concentration led to a dark-colored viscous solution that inhibited xylitol crystallization. This inhibition could be overcome by mixing the concentrated medium with a commercial xylitol solution. Such a strategy led to xylitol crystals with up to 95.9% purity. The crystallization yield (43.5%) was close to that observed when using commercial xylitol solution (51.4%). CONCLUSION: The experimental data demonstrate the feasibility of using ion-exchange resins followed by cooling in the presence of ethanol as a strategy to promote the fast recovery and purification of xylitol from hemicellulose-derived fermentation media. (c) 2008 Society of Chemical Industry.

The effects of alkaline treatments of the wheat straw with sodium hydroxide were investigated. The optimal condition for extraction of hemicelluloses was found to be with 0.50 mol/l sodium hydroxide at 55C for 2 h. This resulted in the release of 17.3% of hemicellulose (% dry starting material), corresponding to the dissolution of 49.3% of the original hemicellulose. The yields were determined by gravimetric analysis and expressed as a proportion of the starting material. Chemical composition and physico-chemical properties of the samples of hemicelluloses were elucidated by a combination of sugar analyses, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and thermal analysis. The results showed that the treatments were very effective on the extraction of hemicelluloses from wheat straw and that the extraction intensity (expressed in terms of alkali concentration) had a great influence on the yield and chemical features of the hemicelluloses. The FTIR analysis revealed typical signal pattern for the hemicellulosic fraction in the 1,200-1,000 cm(-1) region. Bands between 1,166 and 1,000 cm(-1) are typical of xylans.

The xylanase biosynthesis is induced by its substrate-xylan. The high xylan content in some wastes such as wheat residues (wheat bran and wheat straw) makes them accessible and cheap sources of inducers to be mainly applied in great volumes of fermentation, such as those of industrial bioreactors. Thus, in this work, the main proposal was incorporated in the nutrient medium wheat straw particles decomposed to soluble compounds (liquor) through treatment of lignocellulosic materials in autohydrolysis process, as a strategy to increase and undervalue xylanase production by Aspergillus ochraceus. The wheat straw autohydrolysis liquor produced in several conditions was used as a sole carbon source or with wheat bran. The best conditions for xylanase and beta-xylosidase production were observed when A. ochraceus was cultivated with 1% wheat bran added of 10% wheat straw liquor (produced after 15 min of hydrothermal treatment) as carbon source. This substrate was more favorable when compared with xylan, wheat bran, and wheat straw autohydrolysis liquor used separately. The application of this substrate mixture in a stirred tank bioreactor indicated the possibility of scaling up the process to commercial production.; Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP/Brazil); Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)...

Agro-industrial residues are lignocellulosic materials with a high content of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. If such residues can be produced in bioprocesses (e.g. xylanase production) there is an attractive possibility of their integral use in biotechnological processes. In general, xylanase biosynthesis is induced by its substrate – xylan, but the high xylan content of some wastes such as corn cobs and wheat bran makes them an accessible and cheap source of inducers. Another alternative to improve the xylanase production, which is the main goal of this work, is the treatment of lignocellulosic materials in autohydrolysis processes which, under optimized conditions, lead to the solubilization of hemicelluloses (liquid phase, liquor) that may be favorable to xylanase production. The inclusion of these components in the nutrient medium composition can be a strategy to optimize the microbial xylanase biosynthesis. The best conditions for xylanase production were observed when the microorganism was cultivated in birchwood xylan for 6 days; however, satisfactory results were obtained using a combination of 1% wheat bran with 2% or 10% autohydrolysis liquor, for 5 days fermentation, once the xylanase production was around 86-87% of production with xylan. Besides...

Research into microbial xylanases production has increased due to its several applications. In this context, studies that make this practice feasible are important. Wheat bran is an inexpensive byproduct, which contains around 28% hemicellulose; however, the wheat bran particles suspended in the cultivation medium have to be decomposed to soluble compounds to be used by the fungi and the treatment of lignocellulosic materials in autohydrolysis processes makes this easier. The inclusion of these treated materials in the nutrient media can be a strategy to increase and undervalue xylanase production. The best conditions for xylanase and β-xylosidase production were observed when A. ochraceus was cultivated with 1% wheat bran added 10% wheat straw autohydrolysis liquor as carbon source, this substrate was more favorable when compared with xylan, wheat bran and wheat straw autohydrolysis liquor used separately. The application of this substrate in a stirred tank bioreactor shows the need for improvements of the fermentation process.

The effects of alkaline treatments of the wheat straw with sodium hydroxide were investigated. The optimal condition for extraction of hemicelluloses was found to be with 0.50 mol/l sodium hydroxide at 55 °C for 2 h. This resulted in the release of 17.3% of hemicellulose (% dry starting material), corresponding to the dissolution of 49.3% of the original hemicellulose. The yields were determined by gravimetric analysis and expressed as a proportion of the starting material. Chemical composition and physico-chemical properties of the samples of hemicelluloses were elucidated by a combination of sugar analyses, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and thermal analysis. The results showed that the treatments were very effective on the extraction of hemicelluloses from wheat straw and that the extraction intensity (expressed in terms of alkali concentration) had a great influence on the yield and chemical features of the hemicelluloses. The FTIR analysis revealed typical signal pattern for the hemicellulosic fraction in the 1,200–1,000 cm−1 region. Bands between 1,166 and 1,000 cm−1 are typical of xylans.; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BPD/26156/2005, SFRH/BPD/26108/2005; Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo/Brazil (FAPESP); Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Hydrothermal processes are an eco-friendly processes that provide an interesting alternative for chemical utilization of lignocellulosic materials, in which water and crop residues are the only reagents. In this work the effect of process conditions (size distribution of the wheat straw, temperature and time) was evaluated against production of fermentable products. RESULTS: The use of milled wheat straw fractions as a raw material containing blends of different particle size distribution showed that the latter had an influence on the final sugars in the hydrolysate. Improved values of glucose (21.1%) and xylose yields (49.32%) present in the hydrolysate were obtained with treatment severity factors of 2.77 and 3.36, respectively. Mathematical models were developed aimed at establishing the effect of process conditions on monosaccharide concentration and its degradation in the liquor. CONCLUSION: This work shows that the use of wheat straw blends with various particle sizes has a significant effect on the extraction of fermentable products. The effect of treatment severity, which takes into account both processing time and temperature was also evaluated. These results are of importance for process design.; ALBAN programme

The present work describes the delignification of wheat straw through an environmentally friendly process resulting from sequential application of autohydrolysis and organosolv processes. Wheat straw autohydrolysis was performed at 180°C during 30 min with a liquid–solid ratio of 10 (v/w); under these conditions, a solubilization of 44% of the original xylan, with 78% of sugars as xylooligosaccharides of the sum of sugars solubilized in the autohydrolysis liquors generated by the hemicellulose fraction hydrolysis. The corresponding solid fraction enrichment with 63.7% of glucan and 7.55% of residual xylan was treated with a 40% ethanol and 0.1% NaOH aqueous solution at a liquid–solid ratio of 10 (v/w), with the best results obtained at 180°C during 20 min. The highest lignin recovery, measured by acid precipitation of the extracted lignin, was 3.25 g/100 ml. The lignin obtained by precipitation was characterized by FTIR, and the crystallinity indexes from the native cellulose, the cellulose recovered after autohydrolysis, and the cellulose obtained after applying the organosolv process were obtained by X-ray diffraction, returning values of 21.32%, 55.17%, and 53.59%, respectively. Visualization of the fibers was done for all the processing steps using scanning electron microscopy.

The xylanase biosynthesis is induced by its substrate—xylan. The high xylan content in some wastes such as wheat residues (wheat bran and wheat straw) makes them accessible and cheap sources of inducers to be mainly applied in great volumes of fermentation, such as those of industrial bioreactors. Thus, in this work, the main proposal was incorporated in the nutrient medium wheat straw particles decomposed to soluble compounds (liquor) through treatment of lignocellulosic materials in autohydrolysis process, as a strategy to increase and undervalue xylanase production by Aspergillus ochraceus. The wheat straw autohydrolysis liquor produced in several conditions was used as a sole carbon source or with wheat bran. The best conditions for xylanase and β-xylosidase production were observed when A. ochraceus was cultivated with 1% wheat bran added of 10% wheat straw liquor (produced after 15 min of hydrothermal treatment) as carbon source. This substrate was more favorable when compared with xylan, wheat bran, and wheat straw autohydrolysis liquor used separately. The application of this substrate mixture in a stirred tank bioreactor indicated the possibility of scaling up the process to commercial production.

The enzymatic saccharification kinetics of untreated wheat straw, pretreated solids obtained by a sequence of autohydrolysis (solubilization of hemicellulose) and organosolv (solubilization of lignin) were studied together with two pure cellulose model substrates, filter paper and Avicel. Two kinetic models for glucose production were compared and its kinetic constants calculated. According to the obtained results, enzymatic saccharification of the autohydrolysis pretreated solids (APS) proved to be more effective than when the organosolv pretreated solids (OPS) were used. The maximum extent of the enzymatic conversion of cellulose to glucose was 90.88% and 64.04%, for APS and OPS respectively, at 96 h. This result was probably due to an increase in accessible area for APS and a possible inhibition by phenolic acids deposited on the surface of OPS, acting as a barrier for enzymatic saccharification. Initial saccharification rate for APS and OPS was 0.47 g/(L h) and 0.34 g/(L h), respectively. Models based on first and second order cellulase deactivation kinetics satisfactory predicted the behavior of glucose production, however the second order model had a higher accuracy than the first order one. Visualization of structural modification induced by enzymatic saccharification at 12 h for the pretreated solids was done using scanning electron microscopy.

Wheat straw is nowadays being considered a potential lignocellulosic raw material (LCM) for fuel-ethanol production as an alternative to starch or sugar-containing feedstock. In this work, the evaluation of process variables (temperature, residence time and particle size) autohydrolysis pretreatment of wheat straw for ethanol production was addressed by means of design of experiments. The recovery of hemicellulose derived sugars (HDS) in the liquid fraction and the ethanol production of the solid residue obtained after filtration of pretreated material were considered as response variables to different processes conditions. Results show that the optimal conditions were 200 ºC and 30 min, leading to HDS recovery yield of 31.88% of HDS content in raw material and ethanol production yield of 80.1% of theoretical.

Project: EC/FP7/246449 - New tailor-made PNB-based nanocomposites for high performance applications produced from environmentally friendly production routes; "Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are bioplastics that can replace conventional petroleum derived products in various applications. One of the major barriers for their widespread introduction in the market is the higher production costs when compared with their petrochemical counterparts. In this work, a process was successfully implemented with high productivity based on wheat straw, a cheap and readily available agricultural residue, as raw material. The strain Burkholderia sacchari DSM 17165 which is able to metabolize glucose, xylose and arabinose, the main sugars present in wheat straw hydrolysates (WSH), was used. Results in shake flask showed that B. sacchari cells accumulated ca 70 % g P(3HB)/g cell-dry-weight with a yield of polymer on sugars (YP/S) of 0.18 g/g when grown on a mixture of commercial C6 and C5 sugars (control), while these values reached ca 60 % g P(3HB)/g cell-dry-weight and 0.19 g/g, respectively, when WSHs were used as carbon source. In fed-batch cultures carried out in 2L stirred tank reactors on WSH, a maximum polymer concentration of 105 g/L was reached after 61 h of cultivation corresponding to an accumulation of 72% of CDW. Polymer yield and productivity were 0.22 g P(3HB)/g total sugar consumed and 1.6 g/L. h...

"Burkholderia sacchari DSM 17165 is able to grow and produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) both on hexoses and pentoses. In a previous study, wheat straw lignocellulosic hydrolysates (WSH) containing high C6 and C5 sugar concentrations were shown to be excellent carbon sources for P(3HB) production. Using a similar feeding strategy developed for P(3HB) production based on WSH, fedbatch cultures were developed aiming at the production of the copolymer P(3HB-co- 4HB) (poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate)) by B. sacchari. The ability of this strain to synthesize P(3HB-co-4HB) was first shown in shake flasks using gammabutyrolactone (GBL) as precursor of the 4HB units. Fed-batch cultures using glucose as carbon source (control) and GBL were developed to achieve high copolymer productivities and 4HB incorporations. The attained P(3HBco- 4HB) productivity and 4HB molar % were 0.7 g/(L·h) and 4.7 molar %, respectively. The 4HB incorporation was improved to 6.3 and 11.8 molar % by addition of 2 g/L propionic and acetic acid, respectively. When WSH were used as carbon source under the same feeding conditions, the values achieved were 0.5 g/(L·h) and 5.0 molar %, respectively. Burkholderia sacchari, a strain able to produce biopolymers based on xylose-rich lignocellulosic hydrolysates...

Lignocellulosic biomass can be utilized to produce ethanol, a promising alternative energy source for the limited crude oil. Wheat straw is an abundant agricultural residue which can be used as lignocellulosic raw material for bioconversion. There are mainly two processes involved in the bioconversion: hydrolysis of cellulose in the lignocellulosic biomass to produce reducing sugars, and fermentation of the sugars to ethanol. The current study involved the optimization of enzymatic hydrolysis of a wheat straw pretreated by acid hydrolysis, using a mixture of commercial cellulases: celluclast 1.5L + Novozym 188, with further fermentation of the hydrolisate’ sugar content by three ethanologenic strains, namely two yeast of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (strains F and K) and a bacterial strain, Zymomonas mobilis (strain CP4). The fermentation assays, using undiluted hydrolisate with or without nutrient supplements, were monitored by the evaluation of glucose and ethanol yields. In the assays using no supplemented hydrolisate the results obtained for the two yeasts strains F and K, and Zymomonas mobilis were 74%, 79% and 58% of ethanol yield, respectively. However, when the hydrolisate was supplemented the fermentation results showed a better bioconversion process by the Z. mobilis...

The CO2-assisted autohydrolysis was used for wheat straw treatments at temperatures ranging from 180 to 210 °C and an initial CO2 pressure of 60 bar. The study was performed using three different mixture loadings, such as 250 g of H2O/25 g of wheat straw, 150 g of H2O/15 g of wheat straw and 75 g of H2O/7.5 g of wheat straw. The in situ formed carbonic acid was found to result in a higher dissolution of xylose as well as XOS (xylo-oligosaccharides) in comparison to CO2-free pre-treatments under the same conditions (temperature and LSR). The effect of CO2 concentration was also investigated to address the issue of CO2 involved in the reaction that allows to significantly increase the XOS content. At 210 °C with a mixture loading of 75 g of H2O/7.5 g of wheat straw, XOS were present in the liquor at a concentration of 15.75 g L-1. However, with more severe conditions more degradation products (mainly furfural) were detected (in the liquor and the recovered gas phase from depressurization after the reaction). Glucan was mainly retained in the solid phase (containing up to 64%) together with Klason lignin (maximum dissolution of 18%). The dissolved XOS in the liquid phase are proposed to be used in other applications, either directly...

Wheat straw was subjected to three different processes prior to saccharification, namely alkaline pulping, natural pulping and autohydrolysis, in order to study their effect on the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis. Parameters like medium concentration, temperature and time have been varied in order to optimize each method. Milling the raw material to a length of 4 mm beforehand showed the best cost–value-ratio compared to other grinding methods studied. Before saccharification the pulp can be stored in dried form, leading to a high yield of glucose. Furthermore the relation of pulp properties (i.e. intrinsic viscosity, KLASON-lignin and hemicelluloses content, crystallinity, morphology) to cellulose hydrolysis is discussed.

Wheat straw hemicellulosic hydrolysate was used for xylitol bioproduction. The use of a xylose-containing medium to grow the inoculum did not favor the production of xylitol in the hydrolysate, which was submitted to a previous detoxification treatment with 2.5% activated charcoal for optimized removal of inhibitory compounds.

The research evaluated the interactions of two main factors (strain / types of spawn) on various parameters with the purpose to assess its effect on yield and biochemical composition of Lentinula edodes fruiting bodies cultivated on pasteurized wheat straw. The evaluation was made with four strains (IE-40, IE-105, IE-124 and IE-256). Different types of spawns were prepared: Control (C) (millet seed, 100%), F1 (millet seed, 88.5%; wheat bran, 8.8%; peat moss, 1.3%; and CaS0(4), 1.3%) and F2 (the same formula as F1, but substituting the wheat bran with powdered wheat straw). Wheat straw was pasteurized by soaking it for 1 h in water heated to 65 °C. After this the substrate (2 kg wet weight) was placed in polypropylene bags. The bags were inoculated with each spawn (5% w/w) and incubated in a dark room at 25 °C. A proximate analysis of mature fruiting bodies was conducted. The mean Biological Efficiency (BE) varied between 66.0% (C-IE-256) and 320.1% (F1-IE-124), with an average per strain of 125.6%. The highest mean BE was observed on spawn F1 (188.3%), significantly different from C and F2. The protein content of fruiting bodies was high, particularly in strain IE-40-F1 (17.7%). The amount of fat varied from 1.1 (F1-IE-40) to 2.1% (F2-IE-105) on dry matter. Carbohydrates ranged from 58.8% (F1-IE-40) to 66.1% (F1-IE-256). The energy value determined ranged from 302.9 kcal (F1-IE-40) to 332.0 kcal (F1-IE-256). The variability on BE observed in this study was significantly influenced by the spawn's formulation and genetic factors of the different strains.

This paper studies the combined effects of temperature, pH and enzyme-substrate ratio (E/S R) on hydrolysis yield and specific reaction rate (S RV) in a microscale iystem in order to maximize enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated wheat straw (WS). The WS was pretreated by alkaline -peroxide. Enzymatic complex Accellerase 1500TM was used for hydrolysis assays. Using response surface methodology, optimal parameter values were determined. A complete enzymatic kinetic of the hydrolysis reaction was obtained in 10 h. The optimal value of reducing sugars concentration (RSc), given by the model, was 5.97 mg/mL and the corresponding yield was 61.73%. The maximum yield for the WS hydrolysis was 61.73% and was achieved at a temperature of 52.0°C, pH 4.6, and a E/S R of 2.1 mL of Accellerase 1500TM/g of cellulose. The S RV was 4.80 U/mg and was obtained with the following conditions: pH 5.0, temperature of 48.5°C and an E/S R of 0.19 mL/g. A quadratic polynomial equation for predicting the hydrolysis yield was developed. The confirmation experiment showed a final value for RSc of 5.98 ± 0.81 mg/mL. This result indicates a % error of 0.33. The experimental results were in good agreement with predicted value.

The effect of Pleurotus pulmonarius on the chemical composition of wheat straw was evaluated. Wheat straw, treated and untreated with P. pulmonarius, was obtained from a commercial facility. Ten samples plastic bags of wheat straw used previously as substrate to culture edible fungus were collected at random. The negative control group consisted of the pasteurized wheat straw untreated with P. pulmonarius. All samples were analyzed to determine dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, cellulose and hemicellulose of each wheat straw. Data were analyzed by mean comparison using a t-Student test. No differences (P>0.05) between treatments were found for dry matter, crude protein and hemicellulose; however, straw treated with P. pulmonarius showed higher percentages (P<0.05) of organic matter, neutral and acid detergent fiber. It is concluded that growing P. pulmonarius in wheat straw improves the chemical composition of the straw by increasing its organic matter content and modifies the fiber structure, which increases the soluble carbohydrates content.